texas power bar - any good?

reveler

reveler

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i have a shitty $200 300 lb weight set i bought years ago from dicks. it has a shitty 35 lb bar which is olympic size but is shitty with no bearings in the sleeves, meaning it doesnt rotate properly and basically makes olympic lifting retarded.

time to upgrade to a real olympic bar. but im just in a home gym and dont want anything too fancy.

texas power bar years ago was $250, now its still only $285. seems like a reasonably bar for squats, deads, power cleans, etc.

-anyone used this?
-any comparison shopping i should do before i buy?
-does this manufacturor have black friday sales? its already september and i can wait.
 
I did some research, read reviews, and ended up settling on a Rogue Ohio Power Bar. It seems to be a popular choice and gets great reviews, hard to trust some of the review sites though. I wanted to save some money and I wasn't concerned about possible blemishes so I bought the "boneyard" version of the bar.

The boneyard is a section on their site where they sell bars with cosmetic defects at a discount. I got a cerakote version of the bar for $250 I believe. I'm still not even 100% sure that I know what the defect on the bar is, there only seems to be a little paint outside of one of the letters on the bars logo. The only real downside is that those bars don't come with the warranty that the regular priced ones have.

They seem to update the site daily so you check it to see what comes and goes as far as variety. I would only suggest staying away from the bars listed as "various coatings". I got a regular Ohio Bar with "various coatings" and the blemishes on that were pretty obvious. Here is the link that I use to check their inventory

https://www.roguefitness.com/deals#deal_type[]=rogue_boneyard&order=position-asc&p=1&limit=40
 
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I own both the Texas and Ohio power bar. The Ohio is superior. Texas knurling is uncomfortably aggressive and the bar is whippy.
 
reveler said:
i have a shitty $200 300 lb weight set i bought years ago from dicks. it has a shitty 35 lb bar which is olympic size but is shitty with no bearings in the sleeves, meaning it doesnt rotate properly and basically makes olympic lifting retarded.

time to upgrade to a real olympic bar. but im just in a home gym and dont want anything too fancy.

texas power bar years ago was $250, now its still only $285. seems like a reasonably bar for squats, deads, power cleans, etc.

-anyone used this?
-any comparison shopping i should do before i buy?
-does this manufacturor have black friday sales? its already september and i can wait.
Click to expand...
I'd like to add that the knurling on the TPB absolutely cut me to ribbons doing power cleans.
 
Ohio power bar is terrific and great price. No reason to get TB over it.

Wish I had the stainless steel one, but that’s just a distant dream for now.
 
damn, i didnt realize the finish affected the price so much. $250 is bare steel, stainless is $400.
 
Have the Titan Olympic Power bar, currently on sale for $135 I think. Labor day sales are going on
The Titan Regular bar knurling tears me up on squats, have to wrap a towel around it.

One that lasted years and is still going strong was the Ethos bar that came with the bumper plate set. Surprisingly good bar for a kit price.
 
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deadshot138 said:
I've got the bare steel. Gotta buy a brush and some 3 in 1 oil to keep it nice. And sand off rust spots.
Click to expand...

I have the Rogue B&R bar in bare steel and it's awesome. Basically an OPB in bare steel with less aggressive knurl but $30 more. At today's prices, I'd just go OPB in bare steel. The bare steel feels great almost sticky and on top of being cheaper, is pretty much the ideal bar for bench, squat, DL for me. People talk about rust but that hasn't been a big deal for me. The bar came with a lot of oil slathered everywhere and I wiped it down again with WD-40 after the first week, but haven't oiled it in almost 4 years now and no issues. Maybe some cosmetic rust spots between the knurling. I have it in my basement which gets up to 55% humidity in the summer months.

But B&R and OPB have very little whip so great for powerlifting, not so much for Oly lifts. I've recently been working on cleans and snatches and my form is literal dogshit. If I can improve my ankle and shoulder mobility and nail down semi-clean form on those, might invest in a more whippy bar.
 
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Fahcough said:
Have the Titan Olympic Power bar, currently on sale for $135 I think. Labor day sales are going on
The Regular bar knurling tears me up on squats, have to wrap a towel around it.

One that lasted years and is still going strong was the Ethos bar that came with the bumper plate set. Surprisingly good bar for a kit price.
Click to expand...

Yeah Ethos has some great value stuff - their barbells and plates are super solid and my 5 and 2.5 lbs plates are going strong with no chips or cracks after 4 years. And their Ethos Power Rack 5.0 is almost the perfect rack. I was waffling between this and the Rogue equivalent and only went with Rogue because the Ethos crossbar is about 1" too low for me to hang freely. But IMO the Ethos J hooks, neutral grip crossbar and especially the sliding safety straps are quicker and better designed than Rogue's.

17AU6UTHSPWRRCK50GMU



Volador said:
<{hfved}>

You need to embrace those shoulder blade calluses man.
Click to expand...

Lol. I like the knurling on my B&R bar for back squats but ended up putting cloth athletic tape over the center knurl because it kept giving me the world's shittiest and most painful shave under my chin every time I did cleans or front squats.
 
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Volador said:
<{hfved}>

You need to embrace those shoulder blade calluses man.
Click to expand...
Need to toughen the spine skin. After a good solid sunburn from working in yard some hours, bar just eats through burnt skin.
Got too use to squatting with the Yukon which has no center knurl.
 
I have the TPB. The knurling will seem completely different from a cheap bar. It will tear you up at first, but you'll get used to it.
 
Many prefer the OPB over the TPB due to it being a standard 29mm and more finish options. On the otherhand when it comes to their deadlift bars many prefer the Texas DL Bar over the Ohio Deadlift Bar. I just have a Strength Shop Power Bar I got a few years back since I got a great deal on it. Good enough for me, although knurling is not as aggressive as a Texas or Rogue Ohio PB.
 
Just missed out on a clydesdale barbell. Someone bought is hole I was arranging a day to get it
 
I would agree that the knurling is very nasty. Tore my hands/back up real good until I got a little more calloused. I like that though. I love it and would buy again.
 
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